Straight guilt

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Straight Guilt refers to the concept of individual or collective guilt often said to be felt by some Caucasians persons for the anti-gay and homophobic treatment of gay, bisexual and transgender people by heterosexual persons both historically and presently.(1) Sometimes the term has also been referred to as "heterosexual guilt". Similar in theory to white guilt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_guilt)and class guilt, the concept epitomizes the structure of privilege over those persons deemed disadvantaged by society.

Originally coined by Ryan Bauer, an openly gay blogger, to describe the treatment he received by many heterosexual males who wanted to identify with him (citation needed). According to Mr. Bauer, heterosexual males often make statements to attest to level of association with the gay community such as "I'm straight, but I have so many gay friends," as to offset any related guilt that they may harbor for society's unequal balance of rights to the homosexual community.

While in Mr. Bauer's situation the term "straight guilt" applies to gay men, a successful application to lesbians can be found on this blog post:

at http://www.drizzle.com/~mdavis/2008/03/deconstructing-nuclear-family-paradigm.html

Wiki Editors: PLEASE HELP edit this page in any way you can.

See Also:

White Guilt

References:

(5)http://willdo.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/2006/08/northeast_times_5.html (1)http://ryanbauer.tumblr.com/post/35391024 (2)http://www.drizzle.com/~mdavis/2008/03/deconstructing-nuclear-family-paradigm.html (3)http://www.dartmouth.edu/~thepress/read.php?id=1426 (4)http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/a/marriageamend_4.htm